Laker domination at The Palace

The tired, undermanned Pistons were no match for World Champion Lakers Sunday evening at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Kobe Bryant led all scores with 28 points in the Lakers 93-81 victory against Detroit.

Key Points:

Another game without Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Ben Gordon.

The Pistons, thanks to some hot shooting from Chucky Atkins, got off to a quick 9-4 lead to start the game, but within minutes the Lakers took control and never really looked back. The Pistons (sort of) threatened late in the fourth quarter cutting the Lakers lead to 8 with less than two minutes left, but Kobe made sure that the Pistons had no chance to win this one.

Quite honestly of all the games the Pistons have played with their core group sitting on the bench injured, this one really showed the Pistons weaknesses. They looked like a JV team at times.

The Lakers lived at the line, scoring 40 of their points from the stripe.

Rodney Stuckey led the Pistons with 16 points in just 27 minutes on the floor with 1 assist, 3 boards and 2 steals. Early first quarter foul trouble sent Stuckey to the bench, but it didn’t seem like he Kuester was quick to put him back in the game.

Photo/Getty Images

At one point the lineup consisted of Ben Wallace, Jason Maxiell, Jonas Jerebko, Chucky Atkins, and Austin Daye. One had to wonder who the go to guy for buckets was…it just so happened to be Jason Maxiell for a few possessions.

Maxiell’s jumper is really coming along, some of those shots he’s making (that he never used to) look effortless. Jason finished with 8 points, 2 boards and a blocked shot.

Three Pistons in double digits, JJ, Daye and Stuckey.

Rebound war won 44-43.

Will Bynum just 6 points on 2-for-7 shooting with 4 assists and 7 turnovers…yes 7. That is not BYNUMITE. Will just hasn’t looked like himself since his ankle injuries.

Austin Daye with 10 points on 5-for-10 shooting with 4 boards, 3 assists in 20 minutes on the floor. This may have been the biggest highlight of the game for Detroit.

Video Courtesy of The NBA, FSN and The Detroit Pistons

The Pistons still working the paint scoring 42 down low.

Andrew Bynum gets better with every game he plays.

Is it me or does Gasol seem to cry about every call or non call?

When Stuckey was sitting out with foul trouble, Kobe alone outscored the Pistons crew that was on the floor.

The Piston looked outmatched for about all but about 8 of the 48 minutes.

The Pistons could have used a lot more than what Charlie Villanueva gave them Sunday evening. Charlie finished with 6 points, 8 boards and 2 assists in 28 minutes. This was his first game without the mask, I’m thinking he may want to go back to it. He was putting up his best numbers of the season while wearing Rip’s trademark.

Minutes for DaJuan Summers who scored 5 with a blocked shot and an assist in 23 minutes.

Solid night for Kwame Brown who finished with 7 points on 3 for 3 shooting with 8 boards, an assist and a blocked shot in 21 minutes. Nice to see Kwame with a good game against his former team.

Jonas with 11 of his 15 points in the third quarter…pure hustle from JJ.

33 Responses to "Laker domination at The Palace"

Oh well, “shit happens” JJ is the man, he is the new heart and soul of the teams hustle and defense. Where would we be without him? Tayshuan who?? Wait til Gordon comes back, Bynum will get his confidence back, Maxiell is getting moved along with Rip and Tay, Dumars has no time for inconsistent soft play. I smell a trade, Don’t look for Maxiell, Rip and Tay to be Pistons much longer..

Hi Natalie…
“Is it me or does Gasol seem to cry about every call or non call?”
Sorry Nat – it’s just you. Gasol’s been an absolute BEAST this year.

I’ve always liked the Pistons – hard working team… but I don’t see improvement happening any time soon – unless a trade brings in a major player. And that’s unlikely. Yes, Rip/Tay are who I think are on the block, but they’re not who they once were – I doubt there’ll be a big player on the other end of that rainbow.

do u guys think rip came too early? i know its not his ankle thats bothering him but he didnt even pracice b4 he came back \, and thats y he got this hamstring injury, which could nag for a very long time.

right now all i want for christmas is a healthy pistons tem lol, who’s with me?

yet another game showing us how important stuckey is to the team. he picked up a couple ticky tack fouls against kobe, and the game was over. bynum/atkins sure as hell didn’t lead this team, so maybe it’s about time we give credit where credit is really due.

oracle is right….everybody makes stuckeys turnover number seem like a big deal, forgetting that bynum turns the ball over just as frequently…he obviously will never lead a team the way a player like kobe does, but keep in mind…kobe is playing with a championship team..stuckey is surrounded by under the radar players and rookies…give the kid a break and redognise how well hes doing for the position he is in

guys the trade is upon us……remember the time sheed came….its pretty much around this time…..max, rip and tay? i say at least two of them would be gone, i think rip will stay….heres a trade that would work BASED on SALARY CAP…..max/wilcox/brown for boozer (aren’t utah looking to open cap space and get somebody with expiring contract?), and prince for kaman (clippers are known for unusual trade and plus this was a rumor a few weeks ago)

if that happens,maybe we’ll at least have a chance to go to the playoffs.

Steve is like a high school girl who just keeps running his mouth without knowing anything. its easy to talk trade after seeing the outcome of the drafts. our team will pull it off its still hard with ppl on the unjuired list. steve go to clevland cause obviously ur a fan.

boozer is soft. the utah fans hate him because he plays soft defense, and always seems to be faking injuries, and he just doesn’t seem to try that hard. Because of his constant talk about leaving the team in utah and his attitude, every time he came on the court in Utah they booed him.

For all his talent, I don’t think boozer would be a good match in detroit.

Yo Natalie, good call on the shoes last week. During the game it came out that Kander spotted all the ankle injuries were linked to a certain shoe they were all wearing. They were hush hush about what shoe that was (possibly to avoid litigation) so could you direct to the proper archive that you had with I believe Will Bynum making a cut and you pointed out the shoes? I forget what game that was.

sheed will forever be a pistion. and im sure ur a celtic fan. just like 80 percent of the rest of the “fans” only started talking about it after all the trades. they pretty much pull a fake show and bought a ring. steve talks a lot about joe d and his bad draft picks but as i recall you guys havent really draft well either. i know they picked up billups im taking recently. i bet u were talking a lot of trash about sheed when he was with us and now its all good cause he is a celtic.

obiwan the force is strong with in you and u are wise beyong your years.

terry im almost positive that will bynum and the rest are just switching from one particular nike show to another nike shoe, that’s all i have ever seen will bynum wear. I think he’s switching from the nike hyperdunk to one of the nike airs.

I had anticipated that once the machine was established on my wireless net using my desktop, that our laptops on the network could simply find it and add it with the Windows Add Printer role, if all they needed was print capability–maybe by catching a slim driver off the net or from the machine itself. But oh, no. This thing has to be set up from the disc for each machine, and demanded 20 moments each to set up on our XP laptops, and virtually 30 minutes on our VISTA machine. The unusable completion bar sat at 94% for most of that time.